Far East Kingdoms

Central Asia

CarmaniaIncorporating the Carmanians, Karmana, & Germanioi

The ancient province of Carmania lay largely within the modern province of
Kerman in central-eastern
Iran.
Prior to its late sixth century BC domination by the
Achaemenid Persians, Carmania seems to have formed part of a much larger
and more poorly-defined region known as Ariana, of which the later province
of Aria was the heartland. Barely
recorded by written history, its precise boundaries are impossible to pin
down. It may have encompassed much or all of
Transoxiana, the region around
the River Oxus (the Amu Darya), and could have reached as far south as the
coastline of the Arabian Sea.

Carmania
was bordered by the province of Persis to the west (the core territory of
the early
Parsua),
Parthia
to the north, Drangiana to the
north-east, Gedrosia to the
south-east, and the Persian Gulf to the south. The region was also the
heartland of the rather mysterious Jiroft culture. This was seemingly a
long-lived culture with a vast network of societies which formed some of
the world's first cities (see feature link, right). The north of Carmania
was (and still is) a poor region, dominated as it is by the Dasht-e Lut, the
'Desert of Emptiness'. The south on the other hand remains a rich and
fertile zone that can produce harvests in abundance, as well as containing
gold and silver mines along the River Hyctanis or Hytanis.

Much later than the Jiroft culture,
Indo-Iranian tribes had been migrating westwards from Transoxiana
since the seventeenth century BC or thereabouts, following the collapse
of the indigenous Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, or Oxus
Civilisation. The early trickle became a flood in the twelfth to tenth
centuries BC, and these new arrivals soon created the
Median
empire and then the Persian empire, both of which incorporated Carmania
within their eastern borders. The people who gave this region its new name
to replace whatever it had been called by the people of the Jiroft were the
Carmanians themselves. More probably, in Old Persian this name was
something close to the Karmana used to
denote the later satrapy. Noted by Herodotus as the Germanioi, they
were viewed as an extension of Persis itself and were counted as one of the
ten 'clans' (gene) of the Parsua. With the Sagartioi residing in Drangiana,
the Karmana here, and the remaining Parsua in Persis, a clear migratory path
onto Iran can be discerned.

(Additional information by Edward Dawson, from Epitome of the Philippic
History of Pompeius Trogus: Books 11-12, Volume 1, Marcus Junianus
Justinus, John Yardley, & Waldemar Heckel, from The Persian
Empire, J M Cook (1983), from The Histories, Herodotus
(Penguin, 1996), and from External Links:
the Ancient
History Encyclopaedia, and
Zoroastrian
Heritage, K E Eduljee, and
Talessman's
Atlas (World History Maps).)

c.1000 - 900 BC

The
Parsua
begin to enter
Iran,
probably by crossing the Iranian plateau to the north of the great central
deserts (through
Hyrcania)
but also by working round to the south of them. Already separated during
their journey, Parsua groups head in two main directions. In time the
northern groups find themselves in the Zagros Mountains alongside their
cousins, the Mannaeans and
Medians.
They are attested there during the ninth and eighth centuries but disappear
afterwards. The southern groups, perhaps more numerous, trickle in through
Drangiana and Carmania,
towards southern Iran and begin to settle there.

Located in the Fārs region of Iran, these Parsua come under the
overlordship of their once-powerful western neighbour, the kingdom of
Elam.
In the later stages of Persian settlement,
Assyria
and Media also claim some control over the region. As Elam's influence weakens,
the Persians begin to assert their own authority in the region, although
they remain subjugated by more powerful neighbours for quite some time.

Following the climate-change-induced collapse of indigenous
civilisations and cultures in Iran and Central Asia between
about 2200-1700 BC, Indo-Iranian groups gradually migrated
southwards to form two regions - Tūr (yellow) and Ariana
(white), with westward migrants forming the early Parsua
kingdom (lime green), and Indo-Aryans entering India (green)
(click on image to see full sized)

c.620 BC

The
Medians
(possibly) take control of
Persia from the
weakening
Assyrians
who themselves had only recently taken control of the region from
Elam.
According to Herodotus, Media governs all of the tribes of the Iranian steppe.
This sudden empire may well include territory to the east which covers
Hyrcania,
Parthia,
Drangiana, and Carmania.

c.546 - 540 BC

The defeat
of the Medes
opens the floodgates for Cyrus the Great with a wave of conquests, beginning
in the west from 549 BC but focussing towards the east of the
Persians
from about 546 BC. Eastern Iran falls during a more drawn-out campaign between
about 546-540 BC, which may be when
Maka is taken (presumed
to be the southern coastal strip of the Arabian Sea). Further eastern regions
now fall, namely Arachosia,
Aria,
Bactria, Carmania,
Chorasmia,
Drangiana,
Gandhara,
Gedrosia,
Hyrcania,
Margiana,
Parthia,
Saka (at least part of the broad tribal lands of the
Sakas),
Sogdiana (with
Ferghana), and
Thatagush - all added
to the empire, although records for these campaigns are characteristically
sparse.

Persian
Satraps of Karmana (Carmania)

Conquered by Cyrus the Great, the region of
Carmania was added to the
Persian
empire. Before that it was the south-easternmost part of the
Median
empire. Under the Persians, it was formed into a unit of the larger official
satrapy or province known as the 'Central Main Satrapy of Pārsa/Persis'
which incorporated
Persis
and Ūja. This is presumed to have comprised the central 'Minor
Satrapy of Persis' which lay at the heart of the empire and the 'Minor
Satrapy of Karmana'. The latter must have been of inferior rank, since
it is not mentioned in the dahyāva lists. Instead its general
administration may have been handled from Persis. Carmania's lowly status
is confirmed for the time of Alexander the Great, when the post in Carmania
represented only a first step in the impressive career of Sibyrtius and
was therefore of modest rank.

These eastern regions of the new-found empire were ancestral homelands
for the Persians. They formed the
Indo-Iranian melting pot from which the
Parsua
had migrated west in the first place to reach Persis. There would have
been no language barriers for Cyrus' forces and few cultural differences.
Although details of his conquests are relatively poor, he seemingly
experienced few problems in uniting the various tribes under his
governance. He was the first to exert any form of imperial control here,
although his campaign may have been driven partially by a desire to
recreate the semi-mythical kingdom of
Turan
in the land of Tūr, but now under Persian control. Curiously the
Persians had little knowledge of what lay to the north of their eastern
empire, with the result that Alexander the Great was less well-informed
about the region than earlier Ionian settlers on the Black Sea coast had
been.

The satrapy comprised roughly the area of the modern provinces of
Kermān and Lorestān in
Iran.
The capital is likely to have been on the site of modern Kermān.
In Alexander's time, further governors who were presumably of a lower
rank are mentioned for the province's southern section - which may
correspond to Yutiyā in the Behistun inscription - and for the
island of Oaracta / Qešm. In the west the province bordered Persis.
Parthawa lay to the north, with
Zranka and
Gedrosia to the
east. The frontier must have been marked by Lake Hāmun and the
marshy country of western Sistān (Seistan), and must have run
south-south-west from that point to meet the coast near modern
Bandar-e Jāsk.

(Additional information from The Persian Empire, J M Cook (1983),
from The Histories, Herodotus (Penguin, 1996), from Consumed
before the King: The Table of Darius, that of Irdabama and Irtaštuna, and
that of his Satrap, Karkiš, Wouter F M Henkelman (via Academia.edu),
and from External Links:
The Achaemenid Court, Bruno Jacobs & Robert Rollinger (PDF), and
Encyclopaedia
Iranica.)

c.546 - 540 BC

During
his campaigns in the east, Cyrus the Great initially takes the northern route
from
Persis towards Bakhtrish
to reassure or subdue the provinces. This route probably involves the 'militaris
via' by Rhagai to
Parthawa.
At some point he takes the more difficult southern route, destroying Capisa
along the way (possibly Kapisa on the Koh Daman plain to the north of Kabul
- which is possibly also the Kapishakanish named at Behistun as a fortress
in Harahuwatish).

On a fresh leg of the campaign, Cyrus enters the Dasht-i-Lut desert (the
modern Dasht-e Loot) on the eastern route out of Karmana towards
Harahuwatish. His army faces crippling loses but for the assistance provided
by the
Ariaspae on the River Helmand.
They are named 'the Benefactors' (Greek 'Euergetai') by Cyrus in thanks.
This route appears to have been poorly reconnoitred, hinting at a lack
of Persian knowledge of this region and therefore a lack of preceding
Median
occupation here in its eastern empire.

Nabonidus,
king of
Babylonia, angers the Babylonians by trying to reintroduce Assyrian culture,
including placing the moon god Sin above Babylon's Marduk in terms of importance.
Perhaps because of that, resistance to Cyrus the Great of
Persia,
when he enters Babylonia from the east, is limited to just one major battle,
near the confluence of the Diyala and Tigris rivers. On 12/13 October
(sources vary), Babylon is occupied by Cyrus. According to the Greek writer,
Berossus (author of the Babyloniaka (The Babylonian History),
now lost but quoted by later writers), Nabonidus is granted a residency in
Karmana (to the east of
Persis) as its satrap.

516 - 515 BC

Achaemenid ruler Darius embarks on a military campaign into the lands east
of the empire. He marches through
Haraiva and
Bakhtrish, and then to
Gadara and Taxila.
By 515 BC he is conquering lands around the Indus Valley to incorporate
into the new satrapy of
Hindush before returning via
Harahuwatish and
Zranka. Presumably
from there he also passes through neighbouring Carmania, at least in part.
Along the way the Sakas are
largely defeated and conquered.

The River Oxus - also known over the course of many centuries as
the Amu Darya - was used as a demarcation border throughout
history and was also a hub of activity in prehistoric times -
but during this period it flowed right through the heart of the
region that was known as Bactria

Karkiš
is mentioned in the Persepolis Fortification Archive or tablets,
where he is enjoying a feast with Darius the Great. The date is unknown,
so the latter end of Darius' reign has been used here to allow time for
Nabonidus to relinquish his own hold over the position as satrap of Karmana.
Karkiš is not actually named as satrap, but he is clearly in charge in
Karmana. As previously, Karmana is a minor post but now, rather than
falling under the administrative eye of
Persis, it falls under the authority of
Gedrosia, and Karkiš
holds both posts. It seems possible that Karmana is separated as a satrapy
in its own right by the time of Artaxerxes II (404-359 BC).

360s/350s BC

Artaxerxes
II is occupied fighting the 'revolt of the satraps' in the western part of
the empire. Nothing is known of events in the eastern half of the
Persian
empire at this time, but no word of unrest is mentioned by Greek writers,
however briefly. Given the newsworthiness for Greeks of any rebellion
against the Persian king, this should be enough to show that the east
remains solidly behind the king. It seems that all of the empire's
troubles hinge on the Greeks during this period.

In
330 BC distant
Sogdiana becomes part
of the
Greek empire despite the efforts of Bessus, self-styled 'king of Asia',
to retain at least some of the Persian territories. His claim is legal, since
Bakhtrish is traditionally commanded by the next-in-line to the throne, but
Persia has already been lost and his loose collection of eastern allies
provides nothing more than a sideshow to the main event - the fall of Achaemenid
Persia. Still, it takes Alexander the Great two more years to fully
conquer the region.

Argead
Dynasty in Carmania

The Argead were the ruling family and founders of
Macedonia
who reached their greatest extent under Alexander the Great and his
two successors before the kingdom broke up into several Hellenic
sections. Following Alexander's conquest of central and eastern
Persia
in 331-328 BC, the
Greek empire ruled the region until Alexander's death in 323 BC
and the subsequent regency period which ended in 310 BC. Alexander's
successors held no real power, being mere figureheads for the generals
who really held control of Alexander's empire. Following that latter
period and during the course of several wars, Carmania was left in
the hands of the
Seleucid
empire from 305 BC.

Carmania was one of the less important satrapies. Under the Persians
it was presumed to have been part of the 'Central Main Satrapy of
Pārsa/Persis which incorporated
Persis
and Ūja. This was seemingly sub-divided into two minor satrapies
which reported to the central satrapy. They consisted of the 'Minor Satrapy
of Persis' which lay at the heart of the empire and the 'Minor Satrapy of
Karmana'. The latter must have been
of inferior rank, since it is not mentioned in the dahyāva
lists. This is confirmed for the time of Alexander the Great, when the
post in Carmania represented a first step in the impressive career of
Sibyrtius and was therefore of modest rank.

The satrapy comprised roughly the area of the modern provinces of
Kermān and Lorestān in
Iran.
The capital is likely to have been on the site of modern Kermān
(although this city has its direct origins in a town founded by
Ardashir I of the
Parthian empire). In Alexander's time, further governors who were
presumably of a lower rank are mentioned for the province's southern
section - which may correspond to Yutiyā in the Behistun
inscription - and for the island of Oaracta / Qešm. In the west the
province bordered Persis.
Parthawa lay to the north, with
Zranka and
Gedrosia to the
east. The frontier must have been marked by Lake Hāmun and the
marshy country of western Sistān (Seistan), and must have run
south-south-west from that point to meet the coast near modern
Bandar-e Jāsk.

(Additional information from The Persian Empire, J M Cook (1983),
from The Histories, Herodotus (Penguin, 1996), from Who's
Who in the Age of Alexander the Great: Prosopography of Alexander's
Empire, Waldemar Heckel (Ed), and from External Links:
The Achaemenid Court, Bruno Jacobs & Robert Rollinger (PDF), and
Encyclopaedia
Iranica.)

Alexander's army enters western India through the passes of the Hindu Kush,
and a great battle is fought on the Hydaspes against one of the region's
local kings (Porus, of the
Northern Indus
province). After a further advance eastwards, the troops rebel against
the prospect of more battles against another great army, that of
Magadha,
on the Ganges. Alexander is forced to retreat, abandoning his hopes of
conquering India. While he has been away, Aspastes has attempted a
rebellion in Carmania. Now he meets Alexander in neighbouring
Gedrosia and is
promptly executed for his treason.

It is reported to Alexander while he is in Carmania that Abisares, king
of the mountain domain of the same name in the
Northern Indus province,
has died, to be succeeded by his son, also known as Abisares. Alexander
confirms Abisares in his position, although the
Greeks are not particularly well placed to do anything other than this.
Their control of the far eastern areas of the Indus has already faded,
leaving Abisares largely independent of them. Nothing more is known of him
or his kingdom.

324 - 311? BC

Tlepolemus

Satrap of Carmania.

323 BC

Upon
the death of Alexander his two successors are retained as figureheads while the
Greek
empire is governed by Alexander's powerful generals. Perdiccas, the
leading cavalry commander, is the first general to rule, carrying the title
'Regent of Macedonia', first with Meleager, head of the infantry officers, as
his lieutenant, but alone after he has him murdered. Tlepolemus is confirmed
as satrap of Carmania.

322 - 320 BC

The First
War of the Diadochi (the successors - the generals of Alexander's army) sees
civil war break out between the generals, and Perdiccas is murdered by his own
generals during an invasion of
Egypt.
Philip III agrees terms with the murdering generals and appoints them as regents.

A new agreement with Antipater makes him regent of the
Greek
empire instead and commander of the European section. Antigonus remains in charge of
Lycia
and
Pamphylia,
to which is added Lycaonia,
Syria
and
Canaan, making him commander of the Asian section. Ptolemy retains
Egypt,
Lysimachus gains
Phrygia and retains
Thrace,
while the three murderers of the regent Perdiccas - Seleucus, Peithon, and Antigenes
- are given the former
Persian
provinces of
Babylonia,
Media, and
Susiana
respectively. Arrhidaeus, the former regent, receives Hellespontine Phrygia,
while Tlepolemus is again confirmed in Carmania.

319 - 315 BC

The death of Antipater leads to the Second War of the Diadochi. He had
passed over his son, Cassander, in favour of Polyperchon as his successor
(possibly to avoid claims of dynasticism) but the two rivals go to war.
Polyperchon allies himself to Eumenes (Alexander's secretary, former satrap
of Cappadocia,
Mysia, and
Paphlagonia),
but is driven from Macedonia by Cassander, and flees to
Epirus with
the infant Alexander IV and his mother Roxana.

Philip III is killed by his stepmother, Olympias, in 317 BC who is herself
killed by Cassander the following year. Cassander also captures Alexander IV
and Roxana and installs a governor in
Athens,
subsuming its democratic system. Eumenes is defeated in Asia and is murdered by his
own troops, and Seleucus is forced to flee
Babylon
by Antigonus. The result is that Cassander controls the European territories
(including Macedonia), while the
Empire of Antigonus
controls those in Asia (Asia Minor, centred on Phrygia and extending as far as
Susiana).
Polyperchon remains in control of part of the Peloponnese. Despite siding
with the losing side under Eumenes, Tlepolemus is allowed to remain in
Carmania.

314 - 311 BC

The Third War of the Diadochi results because the
Empire
of Antigonus has grown too powerful in the eyes of the other generals so
Antigonus is attacked by Ptolemy
(Egypt),
Lysimachus
(Phrygia
and Thrace),
Cassander (Macedonia), and Seleucus
(Babylonia).
The latter re-secures Babylon itself, plus Carmania,
and the others conclude peace terms with Antigonus in 311 BC.

Antigonus continues to fight Seleucus for Babylon but he is defeated in 309
BC and withdraws. At around the same time, Cassander murders the fourteen
year-old Alexander IV and his mother, Roxana, ending the Argead line of
Macedonians. The fate of Tlepolemus after 315 BC seems to be unknown.

308 - 301 BC

The Fourth War of the Diadochi soon breaks out. In 306 BC Antigonus
proclaims himself king, so the following year the other generals do the same
in their domains. Polyperchon, otherwise quiet in his stronghold in the
Peloponnese, dies in 303 BC and Cassander claims his territory. The war ends
in the death of Antigonus at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC.

The Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC ended the drawn-out and
destructive Wars of the Diadochi which decided how
Alexander's empire would be divided

Lysimachus and Seleucus divide Antigonus' Asian territories between them,
with Lysimachus receiving western Asia Minor (the
Lysimachian
empire, including
Pergamum
and Phrygia),
and Seleucus the rest (the
Seleucidire,
including
Susania,
Babylonia,
Bactria, Carmania,
and the
Indo-Greek
provinces), except
Cilicia
and
Lycia,
which go to Cassander's brother, Pleistarchus, and
Pontus,
which becomes independent, and Phrygia itself, which apparently remains with
or is reclaimed by Antigonus' son.
Cappadocia
is briefly usurped by Amyntas before Seleucus seizes control and permits the
restoration of the native ruling dynasty there. Ptolemy remains secure in
Hellenic Egypt,
Libya,
and Palestine.

Macedonian
& Parthian Carmania

The unexpected death of Alexander in 323 BC changed the situation
dramatically within his vast empire. Immediately his generals divided
the empire between them. Seleucus I gained a huge swathe of territory
from
Lydia
in western Anatolia and
Armenia,
through the Middle East (including
Syria,
Phoenicia,
and
Mesopotamia),
and towards the farthest eastern reaches of the empire, through
Media
and
Persia
and over to Bactria.
Naturally Carmania was included within this. Once safely under
Seleucid control after the conclusion of the Wars of the Diadochi,
Carmania was governed by Macedonian satraps, although details about
them are woefully lacking.

The capital of Seleucus' new empire was initially at
Babylon,
the heartland of the former
Achaemenid
empire that had preceded it, but like that empire, this one contained
such a mix of peoples and languages that it was rarely a united entity.
Gradual losses of territory over subsequent years drove the Seleucid
heartland westwards. The capital had to be transferred to Antioch on
the Orontes (Syrian Antioch), which was founded around 300 BC and
renamed after one of the later Seleucid kings. More territory was hived
away by resurgent subject groups or new empires and the Seleucids were
eventually bottled up in Syria, with enemies all around them. Meanwhile
the eastern provinces, Carmania included, tended to drift into obscurity
as western writers lost sight of them. Only occasional glimpses of events
there were recorded, and even some of these must be subject to some
analysis.

(Additional information by David Kelleher, from the Encyclopaedia
Britannica, from Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus:
Books 11-12, Volume 1, Marcus Junianus Justinus, John Yardley, &
Waldemar Heckel, from The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires:
Adaptation and Expansion, Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, Michael Alram,
Touraj Daryaee, & Elizabeth Pendleton (Eds), from The History of
al-Tabari, Vol 5, The Sasanids, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids and Yemen,
Tabari (CE Bosworth (Trans)), and from External Links: the
Ancient
History Encyclopaedia, and
Encyclopćdia
Britannica, and
Iran on Trip. Where information conflicts regarding the Indo-Greek
territories, Osmund Bopearachchi's Monnaies Gréco-Bactriennes et
Indo-Grecques, Catalogue Raisonné (1991) has been followed.)

305 - 303 BC

Following two years of war on the far eastern border of his empire while he
attempts a Greek reconquest of India, Strabo records that Seleucus concedes the
Indo-Greek
provinces to the ruling
Mauryans
as part of an alliance agreement. This includes the regions of
Paropamisadae
(immediately to the east of
Bactria,
covering northern
Pakistan
and eastern
Afghanistan),
Arachosia
(modern southern Afghanistan and northern and central Pakistan, and
perhaps extending as far as the Indus), along with northern
Indus (Punjab) and probably also southern
Indus.
Subsequent relations between the
Seleucid Greeks and the Mauryans appear to be
cordial. Seleucus even appoints Megasthenes as his ambassador to
Chandragupta's court.

The Dasht-e Lut salt desert dominates northern Carmania (the
modern eastern Iranian province of Kerman), ranking as one of
the hottest locations on the planet

c.250 - 238 BC

Areas
of eastern Iran and the
Seleucid
satrapy of
Parthia
are gradually liberated from Greek rule by tribesmen from the Iranian
Plateau. The founder of the dynasty which assumes the leadership of
this takeover is Arsaces. His
Parthian
kingdom is pronounced with the seizure of Asaak (location unknown)
in 248/247 BC. By about 238 BC he secures undisputed Parthian
independence by attacking and killing the former
Macedonian
satrap of Parthia, its recently-self-proclaimed king, Andragoras.
Hyrcania
falls almost immediately afterwards. The Seleucids seem to be able
to hold onto the more southerly provinces, such as Carmania and
Gedrosia.

219 - 217 BC

The
Fourth Syrian War involves Antiochus fighting the
Egyptian
Ptolemy IV for control of their mutual border. Troops from Carmania are involved
on the
Seleucid side. Antiochus recaptures Seleucia Pieria,
Tyre,
and other important
Phoenician
cities and their Mediterranean ports, but is fought to a draw at Raphia on
Syria's southernmost edge. The subsequent peace treaty sees all the gains
other than Seleucia Pieria relinquished.

219 - 217 BC

Aspasianus the
Mede

Satrap of
Carmania? Commanded troops during the war.

219 - 217 BC

Byttacus the
Macedonian

Satrap of
Carmania? Commanded troops during the war.

209 - 206 BC

Seleucid
ruler Antiochus III invades
Parthia.
Its capital, Hecatompylos, is occupied and Antiochus forces his way into
Hyrcania,
with the result that the Parthian king, Arsaces II, is forced to sue for
peace. Buoyed by his successes in the east, Antiochus continues on to
Bactria. This
independent former satrapy is now ruled by Euthydemus Theos after he has
deposed the son of the original ruler. Euthydemus is defeated at the Battle
of the Arius but resists a two-year siege of the fortified capital, Bactra.
In 206 BC Antiochus marches across the Hindu Kush.

The kingdom of Bactria (shown in white) was at the height of its
power around 200-180 BC, with fresh conquests being made in the
south-east, encroaching into India just as the Mauryan empire was
on the verge of collapse, while around the northern and eastern
borders dwelt various tribes that would eventually contribute to
the downfall of the Greeks - the Sakas and Greater Yuezhi (click
on map to show full sized)

The return
journey proceeds through the Iranian provinces of
Arachosia,
Drangiana, and Carmania.
Antiochus arrives in
Persis
in 205 BC and receives tribute of five hundred talents of silver from the citizens
of Gerrha, a mercantile state on the east coast of the Persian Gulf. Having
re-established a strong Seleucid presence in the east which includes an array
of vassal states, Antiochus now adopts the ancient
Achaemenid
title of 'great king', which the Greeks copy by referring to him as 'Basileus
Megas'.

167 BC

Under
Mithradates the
Parthians
rise from obscurity to become a major regional power, although a precise
chronology is not possible. Their first expansion takes the former province
of Aria from the
Greco-Bactrian
kingdom. It seems possible that Aria (and possibly a rebellious
Drangiana
too) had already been conquered once by the Arsacids, with the
Greco-Bactrians recapturing it, probably under
Euthydemus I Theos. During the reign of Eucratides I the
Greco-Bactrians are also engaged in warfare against the people of
Sogdiana,
showing that they have lost control of that northern region too
(and by inference
Ferghana).

The other eastern provinces, all of which still appear to be in
Seleucid
hands, must also fall to the Parthians very quickly after this -
including Carmania,
Gedrosia, and
Margiana -
although firm evidence to show a specific date appears to be lacking.
Another date which may be valid for these losses is 185 BC, when
Seleucus IV loses eastern Iran to Parthian expansion, but the fact
that the Parthians fail to expand out of their initial conquests
until Mithradates accedes makes this period a more likely one.

c.165 BC

Defeated
by the Xiongnu, the
Greater Yuezhi are forced
to evacuate their lands on the borders of the
Chinese kingdom.
They begin a migration westwards that triggers a slow domino effect of barbarian
movement.

140 - 130 BC

Sakas
have long been pressing against
Bactria's borders. Now, following their long migration from the borders
of the Chinese
kingdoms, the
Greater Yuezhi start
to invade Bactria from
Sogdiana to
the north. Initially, Saka elements who are already in Bactria become
vassals to the Greater Yuezhi.

115 - 100 BC

With
Parthian territory having been harried for years by the
Sakas,
King Mithridates II is finally able to take control of the situation.
First he defeats the
Greater Yuezhi in
Sogdiana in 115
BC, and then he defeats the Sakas in Parthia and Seistan (in
Drangiana)
around 100 BC. After their defeat, the Greater Yuezhi tribes concentrate
on consolidation in
Bactria-Tokharistan
while the Sakas are diverted into
Indo-GreekGandhara. The
western territories of
Aria, Drangiana,
and Margiana
would appear to remain Parthian dependencies. Although Carmania doesn't
seem to be mentioned directly, its position between Drangiana and Persia
would make it likely that this too is still in Parthian hands.

By the period between 100-50 BC the Greek kingdom of Bactria
had fallen and the remaining Indo-Greek territories (shown in
white) had been squeezed towards eastern Punjab. India was
partially fragmented, and the once tribal Sakas were coming to
the end of a period of domination of a large swathe of territory
in modern Afghanistan, Pakistan, and north-western India. The
dates within their lands (shown in yellow) show their defeats
of the Greeks that had gained them those lands, but they were
very soon to be overthrown in the north by the Kushans while
still battling for survival against the Satvahanas of India
(click on map to show full sized)

AD c.210 - 216

The fractured
Parthian empire is breaking down now. With the claim to
rule it already dividing the empire in two on official lines, other
minor kingdoms have already started emerging or will soon do so. For
the moment they probably acknowledge Parthian overlordship in name,
but essentially they are probably all but independent states in their
own right. At least three are known - Carmania
(ruled by a certain Balash),
Margiana (ruled by one Ardashir), and
Persis (ruled by one Papak of the
Sassanids).

Having been all but independent for some time, Carmania is currently
ruled by one Balash. He is sometimes equated with the
Parthian King Vologeses, because Balash or Walash is the New Persian form of Middle
Persian Wardakhsh, which is well known in its Greek form as Vologeses.
However it is a frequently-used name for Arsacid kings, so there is no
guarantee that this is the same Vologeses as the Parthian king.

After subduing two of the five regions of Persis, the
Sassanid warlord Ardashir I now conquers Carmania (Kirman) and removes
Balash, whose ultimate fate is unknown. Ardashir places one of his own sons
in command of the province, another Ardashir, while his own fight against
the Parthians continues.

Parthian King Artabanus has left it too late to confront
Sassanid
expansion within the empire. The Battle of Hormozdgān costs Artabanus
his life, leaving the Sassanids as the most powerful faction in Iran. It
may be this victory which ends Carmania's brief period as a kingdom and
a renewal of its status as a province with Ardashir son of Ardashir I as
its first Sassanid governor. Governor Ardashir certainly still holds the
post at the start of the reign of Shapur I in AD 241, and Carmania remains
a Sassanid province for the duration of the empire (which lasts into the
seventh century).

AD 640 - 821

The
region is gradually absorbed into the
Islamic
empire as it takes
Persia. Carmania suffers an invasion in 643 when the marzban
(governor) is killed but is apparently regained by the Sassanids for a time.
It is used as a bolt-hole for escaping Sassanid nobles in 644 and 650. That
last time is barely ahead of a much more significant Muslim invasion which
fully conquers Carmania, killing the marzban at Behdesīr (founded by
Ardashir I, the modern city of Kerman). At first the city's isolation
allowed Kharijites and Zoroastrians to thrive there, but the Kharijites are
wiped out in 698, and the population is mostly Muslim by 725 (although a
minority group of Zoroastrians survives there to this day).

The modern city of Kerman was founded as Behdesīr by the
early Parthian King Ardashir, lying on a sandy plain which is
surrounded by mountains to the north and east

Muslim governors, or emirs, are appointed to control the Islamic
emirate of Khorasan
in the name of the caliph. A seemingly partial occupation of Transoxiana
by Tang dynasty
China is
effected in 659, but is ended in 665. The
Abbasid caliphate's authority over the region is generally weak, and
power eventually passes in the tenth century to the
Buwayid dynasty, which maintains control even when the region and
city falls to Yamin-ud-Dawlah Mahmud of
Ghazna
in the early eleventh century. In time, having largely preserved its
territorial borders, Carmania becomes the Kerman province of modern
Iran.